The Bare Facts --
Overviews and Outlines --
Bible Studies: Whole Book -- Part of Book --
Sermons -- Bibliographies
Widely dismissed as a myth, a mere vestige of cultural tale-telling, the book of Jonah has become a contentious point within the book of the twelve minor prophets. What rational, enlightened, educated person can believe in a story about a man being swallowed by a fish? Probably the same person who can believe in God creating the world ex nihilo or in Christ's substitutionary atonement.
In the furor over the historicity of the book, however, we sometimes miss the essential teachings it contains concerning God's plan to save the world, the nature of repentance, and the breadth of God's love.
It all begins when Jonah is called by God to travel to Nineveh and preach the Assyrians.
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The Bare Facts
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Memorable Passages
Overviews and Outlines
- An Introduction to the
Book of Jonah
- An outlined introduction by David Malick.
- The Grace
Institute: Jonah
- A well-rounded overview from a Eugene Oregon church.
- An Argument of the
Book of Jonah
- David Malick's rhetorical outline of the book.
- The Book of Jonah
- An introduction from Quartz Hill School of Theology.
-
Notes on Jonah
- Introductory information from Bob Dunston of Cumberland College.
-
Outline of Jonah
- A thorough outline, also by Bob Dunston of Cumberland College.
- Bible Basics
- A very brief list of facts, but it includes a wav file pronouncing the
book's title.
- Bible Explained
- This is a commentary by an energetic fellow named Ted Wade. He
provides brief notes on each chapter and most verses for the entire Bible.
-
Luther Productions
- A very brief overview including key verses.
-
The Place of St. Jonah
- A discussion of places associated with Jonah.
- Jonah
- A Jewish-authored overview.
- Early Jewish
Writings
- Scroll down for a brief essay of overview. A number of links,
including ones listed here. Also links to various texts.
Reference Book Entries
- Easton Bible Dictionary:
- The article from M.G. Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary.
- Catholic
Encyclopedia: Jonah
- The appropriate entry from the public domain edition of this venerable
reference work.
- Columbia Encyclopedia:
Jonah
- A brief article from the 2001 edition of this reference work.
Works of Art
- Jonah's
Confession
- A poem by "The
Archpoet," a 12th century German. Presented by students of Jeremy
Downes of Auburn University.
- Jonah
and the Whale
- A sculpture by Gregg Luginbuhl.
- Jonah Goes to
Nineveh
- An EasyEnglish Drama Unit by Frances Jones.
- Jonah and the Little
Blue Fish
- This is a rather fanciful children's story in which Jonah meets a fish in
the whale's belly.
- Patience
- One of the four poems by the "Pearl Poet," Patience includes a comic
rendering of the story of Jonah. You'll likely find the poet's Middle
English to be heavy going.
Bible Studies: Whole Book
- Jonah: God's Way or No Way
- A Bible Links exclusive. Thirteen devotions covering all the verses
in Jonah.
- The Blue
Letter Bible
- An excellent source for text, cross-references, concordance, language
helps, commentaries, and more.
- Love the Lord Bible
Studies: Jonah
- A four-lesson study with questions from an Arkansas-based ministry.
They seem orthodox enough, although the statement of faith makes me wonder if
they're not into prosperity gospel teachings.
- Jonah: The Minor
Prophets
- Part 6 in the 13-lesson study by Hampton Keathley IV.
- Jonah: The Prodigal
Prophet
- A three-lesson study by Bob Deffinbaugh.
- Study Notes on Jonah
- A portion of Tim Bulkeley's "Postmodern Bible" with extensive hypertext
commentary.
- Jonah:
Messenger to Nineveh
- An executable outline by Mark Copeland.
- Notes on
Jonah
- A 36-page overview by Thomas Constable of Dallas Theological Seminary.
- Jonah in the Whale or Who
Could Swallow That?
- An article by Jimmy Williams of Probe Ministries.
- The Book of Jonah
- A chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse Bible Study from Biblestudysite.com.
-
Quickstudies: Book of Jonah
- This is a seven-lesson course on Jonah. They provide colorful pdfs
that you can print out for your class.
- Jonah and the
Whale
- A quick article on Jonah, but it does include a nice list of the messages
of Jonah (beyond the adventure at sea).
- The Man Who
Disagreed with God
- A commentary by Mark Kirkpatrick. It's in EasyEnglish.
- Living the Mystery
- An article by David L. Muller, from The Lutheran. Subtitled,
"Images of Jonah invite us into a deeper experience of Easter."
- Lessons from the Book
of Jonah
- A lengthy study-guide/commentary by Darrin Yeager.
- An Outline of the Book of
Jonah
- A commentary by Cooper Abrams. This site is listed in the
Fundamental Top 500 and Baptist Top 1000, whatever that means.
- Bible Query from Jonah
- A list of many questions and answers related to the book.
- The Minor Prophets: Jonah
- A study by Al Maxey.
- Commentary on Jonah
- This is listed as a commentary in simple English. It's pretty basic,
but has some useful information.
-
Overcoming our Bad Habits
- A five-lesson study of the book.
-
Jonah for Lay People
- A 19-page pdf that seems to go with the following two files.
- A
Journey with Jonah
- A 65-page pdf, apparently one of three documents used in a September 2004
retreat.
-
Commentary on Jonah
- This is a 593-page pdf file. I haven't been able to ascertain the
author, but he is apparently connected with Concordia Seminary in St. Louis,
MO.
-
The Theology of the Book of Jonah
- A course paper by Deborah Martin of George Fox Seminary. See her
related bibliography below.
-
The Theology of the Book of Jonah
- A course paper by Deborah Martin of George Fox Seminary. See her
related bibliography below.
-
History of the Scholarship of the Book of Jonah
- A course paper by Rob Nelke of George Fox Seminary. See his related
bibliography below.
- Geneva Notes
- In 1599, English Puritans, working in Geneva, published the first study
Bible. These are the notes from that edition.
-
John Calvin's Commentary
- The commentary by the 16th-century French reformer.
- Matthew Henry's
Commentary
- The chapter-by-chapter 1712 commentary by the great English writer.
-
John Wesley Notes
- Over his career, the founder of Methodism maintained notes on the entire
Bible.
-
JFB Commentary
- The comments of Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown from
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871).
- Clarke's
Commentary
- The first chapter for this book from Adam Clarke's nineteenth-century
commentary.
- John Gill's
Exposition of the Entire Bible
- The commentary of the 17th century Baptist theologian.
-
W. W. Fereday: Jonah
- A commentary by a British preacher from the first half of the 20th
century.
-
J.G. Bellett: Jonah
- A short commentary by the 19th century preacher.
- The Jerome Bible
Commentary
- A commentary by a Catholic doctor, Jerome Dominguez, M.D. His English
isn't perfect, but you have to admire his energy. Although Catholic in
orientation, this source has some good material for study.
- Peter Sippel: Jonah
- A Quaker's take on the book.
-
On the History of Jonah
- A mystical-leaning treatise, subtitled "A Fragment of the Lost Book of
the Resurrection, attributed to St. Methodius of Olympus."
- Commentary on the
Book of Jonah
- An off-center commentary by Yair Davidiy. It seems to lean toward
the Anglo-Israel theological school.
- David
Saperstein: More Than a Fish Story
- This is an ecumenical, feel-good sort of generic spiritual approach from a
PBS program, Thirty Good Minutes (your tax dollars at work).
- The Book of
Jonah: David Deley
- This guy, whose advanced theological training apparently came with his
Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering, is quite a case. He's a
great example of what a person with a bit of learning can do when mis-applying
that learning in a field he doesn't fully understand. But you'd think
that the logic inherent in computer engineering would have kept him from the
more egregious fallacies he perpetrates.
- Jewish Bible (JPS 1917)
- Three versions of the text in Hebrew.
-
Jonah: A Lesson in Mercy
- A study by Uriel Simon, a Jewish peace activist.
Bible Studies: Part of Book
- The Hand of God in
the Life of Jonah (Jonah 1:1-3)
- A sermon by Don Fortner
- Prayers
From the Belly (Jonah 1-2)
- A sermon by Dan Baumgartner.
- Jonah's
Prayer (Jonah 2:1-10)
- A sermon by Ben Eddington.
- Salvation
is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9)
- A brief article by Don Fortner.
- Jonah's
Mission (Jonah 3:1-5,10)
- A Catholic author's brief notes.
- Heartless
Obedience (Jonah 3-4)
- A sermon by Dan Baumgartner.
- Jonah and Judgment (Jonah
4:1-11)
- A sermon-esque essay by Kenneth W. Collins, a Disciples of Christ pastor
from Fairfax County, Virginia.
- Did Jonah Die
in the Belly of the Fish?
- A question and answer from Come Reason Ministries.
- The
Repentance of Nineveh
- A study by Eliezer Segal, a Jewish writer who is at the University of
Calgary.
- Jonah: The
Problem of Prejudice
- A study by Raymond Brown, rendered in EasyEnglish.
Sermons
- Jonah: The
Reluctant Ambassador
- The appropriate sermon from Ray C. Stedman's Adventuring through the Bible
series.
- Ken Gehrels--Two sermons from a Reformed pastor.
- Jonah 1: 1 - 2: 10
On The Run
Jonah 1: 1 - 4: 11
Rescuing Rejects
- John
Piper
- Links to three sermons.
- Ken Trivette
- A sermon series, Rebel with a Cause. At present, some of
these links were not recorded properly. You can cruise through the
various sermons by changing the numbers in the filename.
- Jonah and the
Great Fish: Children Sermons
- A kid-oriented sermon.
-
Lincoln Berean Church
- Links to sermons from this church in Lincoln, Nebraska.
- Max Forsythe
- Sermons from a series on the minor prophets. Look for the
appropriate sermon(s) on this page, which contains all twelve.
- Steve Muncherian--Pastor of Evangelical Free Church in Merced, California.
- Jonah 1:1-16:
"Take Me Out Of The Ball Game"
- Jonah 1:17-2:10:
"A Fish Story
- Jonah 3:1-10:
"The Second Chance"
- Jonah 4:1-11:
"Controlling God"
- Gregg Strawbridge--Three sermons from All Saints Presbyterian Church.
-
Jonah (1)
Rejection of the Word
Jonah (2)
Repentance by the Word
Jonah (3) Revival
Outside the Land
Jonah (4) Anger
with God
Jonah (5) The Sign
of Jonah
- John MacArthur
- "Making Disciples: The Tragedy of an Unwilling Missionary" is a single
sermon.
- Mark Adams
- A four-sermon series on Jonah
- C.H. Spurgeon
- A listing of the great English Baptist's sermons on Jonah, including links
to four with full text.
-
Charles Blustein Ortman--Unitarian
- If you want to see an abuse of exegesis, then read this eloquent but
faithless document.
Books and Bibliographies
Books
-
Word Biblical Commentary on Hosea-Jonah
- Volume 31 in the highly regarded Word Commentary series. Written by
Douglas Stuart.
-
JPS Commentary on Jonah
- Uriel Simon's Jewish commentary. It's published by the Jewish
Publication Society.
-
Anchor Bible Commentary on Jonah
- Volume 24b in the liberal but quite erudite Anchor series. Out of
print when I checked it.
Articles
-
Conversation Analysis and the Book of Jonah
- A journal article by Cynthia Miller, Kenneth Craig, and Raymond Person.
It approaches the book from a methodology called "conversation analysis."
-
Extending the Signs: Jonah in Scriptural Reasoning
- An introductory article from a special issue of the Journal of
Scriptural Reasoning. Written by Rachel Muers of Cambridge.
-
Jonah, God's Objectionable Mercy, and the Way of Wisdom
- An article from the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning. Written
by R.W.L. Moberly.
-
Reading the Rainbow
- An article from the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning. Written
by Rachel Muers.
-
Reading the Sign of Jonah
- An article by Chad Pecknold in the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning.
Subtitled, "Learning to read signs as God reads them."
-
Gathering at the Table for Scripture Study: A Jewish-Christian-Muslim
Trialogue about Jonah Texts.
- An article by Michael G. Cartwright, University of Indianapolis, in the
Journal of Scriptural Reasoning.
-
Theodicy and the Nature of God in Nahum and Jonah
- An article, apparently by a graduate student, from a Villanova University
publication.
- A Whale of
a Tale: Fundamentalist Fish Stories
- An intriguing Jonah-related article by Edward B. Davis. It concerns
a persistent tradition of a sailor who, swallowed by a whale, was rescued
thirty-six hours later by his shipmates.
-
On Jonah and the Concept of Justice
- This excerpt from a work by Gershom Scholem appeared originally in
Critical Inquiry.
- Narrative and
Paradox in Jonah
- An article by David Lillegard from Kerux: The Online Journal of
Biblical Theology.
- The Sign of Jonah
- An article by James T. Dennison, Jr. from Kerux: The Online Journal of
Biblical Theology.
Bibliographies
- A Selected
Bibliography
- David Malick's list of accessible sources.
-
Two-Age Bibliography
- A list of recommended sources, mostly scholarly in nature, provided by a
website devoted to the "Redemptive Historical" school of theology.
-
Oxford Bibliography
- A brief list of sources from the Theology School at Oxford University.
-
Bibliography on the Theology of the Book of Jonah I
- A lengthy bibliography by Rob Nelke of George Fox University.
-
Bibliography on the Theology of the Book of Jonah II
- Another bibliography, this one from Deborah Martin, apparently prepared
for a course at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.
-
Denver Seminary Bibliography
- This will take you to the top of the "Commentary" section. You'll
need to scroll down to find the relevant section.
- Annotated
Bibliography on Jonah
- A nineteen-page list of sources by Thomas McDaniel of Eastern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
Memorable Passages
Jonah 1: 1 - 4: 11 Rescuing Rejects
Jonah (1)
Rejection of the Word
Jonah (2)
Repentance by the Word
Jonah (3) Revival
Outside the Land
Jonah (4) Anger
with God
Jonah (5) The Sign
of Jonah